Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The resurgence of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia ushers in a new era of power politics and diplomacy in Northeast Asia with implications that may not be good news for either the United States or China. Campaigning against strong opposition from the educated, intellectual, often […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ABU DHABI — South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have reached a major energy cooperation accord. Officials said South Korea’s state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and GS Energy have been selected to develop three crude oil fields in the UAE. They said the two South Korean companies would team with the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com China is expanding its political support to the new regime of Kim Jong-Un by clamping down on would-be refugees. Beijing is also exploiting its relationship with the reclusive North to further its own ambitions. The Chinese leadership, which rushed to offer public backing to the young and untested […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s promise to give up or at least suspend its nuclear program clearly forces the end of the seemingly tough policies enunciated by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak after he took office four years ago. No way can Lee appear as the strong leader who […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com (Feb. 15 edition) Dissident activities against North Korea’s new ruler Kim Jong-Un are becoming increasingly evident, South Korea’s ruling lawmaker said. Last June, graffiti denouncing the reclusive country’s practice of dynastic rule was found at Pyongyang Railroad University and other nearby places. This prompted police to crack down […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Star power, political pressure and diplomacy may be forcing the Chinese into second thoughts about their much reviled policy of sending North Korean defectors back to uncertain fates in North Korea whenever they catch them. In the face of pleas by well known performers and South […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ANKARA — Turkey, despite massive lobbying, has lost a tender to sell advanced Western submarines to Indonesia. Officials said a German-Turkish bid for Indonesia’s electric-diesel submarine project was rejected. Instead, Indonesia selected South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering to build and supply three submarines for Jakarta for $1.1 billion. “This was […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — Robert Park cried out in torment as he spoke on the phone from Seoul about what he had endured — not at the hands of the North Koreans who held him for 43 days after he crossed the frozen Tumen River into North Korea on Christmas […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — North Korea stands to be a major winner if Israeli hawks prevail and Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facilities. With Iran said in some quarters to be only months away from emerging as the world’s 10th nuclear weapons power, North Korea reportedly is producing more middle-range missiles […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — A former agent for South Korea’s multi-tentacled National Intelligence Service (NIS) has defeated an intensive United States government bid to have him extradited to Seoul and imprisoned for revealing the payoffs to North Korea that led to the historic June 2000 North-South Korean summit and the […]